Emily Tisch Sussman, SHE PIVOTS: The Podcast
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[1:25]You will not want to miss it go to ziviowens.com Emily Tisch sussman is a
[1:31]Podcastor whose podcast is she pivots. She's a podcast hosts a women's impairment and family policy advocate
[1:38]Leading democratic political strategist contributors to Marie Claire and parents in the mother of three
[1:43]On her previous podcast your political playlist
[1:46]She interviewed countless leaders and influential women including speaker Nancy Pelosi secretary Hillary Clinton Stacy Abrams
[1:52]Yara Shahidi and more as the political correspondent in parents magazine
[1:57]Emily acts as an expert voice bringing the most important political issues affecting families and women to the forefront in a thoughtful and effective
[2:04]Manor
[2:04]Emily is a staunch advocate of women's rights and helped to shape the leading principles for the inaugural women's march in January
[2:11]2017 she recently served as senior advisor for paid leave US and is a constant advocate for how policies can support families and businesses
[2:20]She has extensive experience guiding young activists having previously served as executive director for young
[2:26]Democrats of America and his founder of Think Blue an organization to increase youth participation in the democratic electoral process
[2:33]Emily has nearly 300 appearances on
[2:36]MSNBC CNN Fox News H.L.N and CBS
[2:40]She has contributed to publications like parents magazine Marie Claire bustle she knows and have post
[2:45]Her views are also frequently featured in national news outlets including the New York Times newsweek Reuters and Politico
[2:51]She is the current host of parent magazine's mom run the world segment on instagram live
[2:56]A New York Giants fan and a lifelong musical theater enthusiast Emily considers her experience as a camp counselor for girls in
[3:02]Massachusetts amongst her most fulfilling roles she lives in New York with her husband and three children
[3:07]Welcome Emily. Thank you so much for coming on mom's don't have time to read books to discuss really everything from
[3:13]Women's rights in your career and podcasting and writing and and all the all the good things in your life
[3:21]Well, thanks so much for having me. I genuinely feel like I cannot remember the last time I got past the first chapter of a book
[3:29]Really resonates and I'm thrilled to be odd
[3:32]How old are your kids now five four and two? Oh, man. Yeah, so every ten one day right? Yes
[3:39]And it won't be as long as you think
[3:41]Just I feel like my my whole goal was like to get my youngest to kindergarten
[3:46]But then it turned out that was during like lockdown. So I was like anyway now
[3:50]I feel like now with my youngest and first grade actually in school. I have time
[3:56]You can tell that's read again. I look forward to the day. I used to love to read
[4:02]Like it's a picture book. It's endless emails from school. That's what I'm reading. Yes
[4:07]Especially this time of year. Yeah
[4:09]Like running from book fair to worth a donus to like whatever. I'm like
[4:14]I can't even keep my life straight
[4:16]So you have had this sort of meteoric career. You have you have this new ish podcast
[4:22]You talk to all sorts of political leaders, women's rights advocates focusing on women
[4:28]You write with such
[4:31]Passion about the issues. You're an advocate. I feel like when are you running for office and sort of my next question
[4:38]How did this all come about like when did you get started? Give me like the back story?
[4:44]Okay, so
[4:46]God how did that was such a nice intro like still stuck in it. I was like wow, that sounds so nice
[4:51]I've always just been kind of fired up like in a way that my peers were not necessarily in the same way
[4:59]It didn't necessarily really translate to me being a great student actually
[5:02]I was just sort of really fired up about the state of the world
[5:05]And I felt like I had a she I had responsibility
[5:07]But I didn't because I didn't have the confidence
[5:10]Because I hadn't been I didn't have that reinforcement from academics that I was smart
[5:15]That I thought oh, I'm so overwhelmed by what to do in the world
[5:17]But I don't know what I can do about it. So it took until graduating from college
[5:21]I worked in my first political campaign and I was like yes, this is the thing. I am so good at this
[5:28]The world and it took all of these things that I didn't know were skills
[5:33]You know, I could bring my team a lot
[5:35]I bring them morale along with us. I could work endlessly long hours
[5:39]I could multitask lots of different schedules at the same time
[5:43]Like all of these things that I didn't know were skills really helped me thrive in a campaign environment
[5:48]So that set me on the path of okay, I can do something with this fired upness
[5:54]I would we lost that campaign sadly, but it did set me towards law school
[5:58]Which again, I did not think that I could have done. I didn't have the confidence to do it
[6:01]But having marked on the campaign. I did
[6:04]Law school was another place where I was like okay, I really couldn't this
[6:08]I can do this it just kind of lit something under me
[6:12]And I thought well, you know, what can other people do versus what skills do I bring?
[6:17]That's like always been the mindset that I've gone into like any kind of work environment
[6:21]And I felt like there were so many issues that I cared about
[6:23]But the place that I really felt like I could thrive and what I could bring to it with my skill set was
[6:29]Seeing things that didn't exist and like putting concrete steps to that
[6:34]So at that point in time it was it was LGBT rights
[6:38]Wasn't even LGBTQ rights. It was LGBT rights at that time
[6:41]There was only a marriage decision in Massachusetts
[6:44]But I felt like the gaping wide open space with no rights. This is a place that I could work
[6:49]But ended up after I graduated law school
[6:51]I worked on the Obama campaign and then I moved to Washington
[6:54]It felt like everyone moved to Washington if you had to change the world
[6:58]As a lifelong New Yorker
[7:00]I never thought I would do it
[7:03]But so I ended up working for an organization a small nonprofit organization called the service members legal defense network
[7:09]Where we were the lawyers for people who were in the military who were being discharged under the don't ask them to law
[7:16]So if you have some younger listeners, they may not actually be familiar with don't ask don't tell
[7:21]But it was the most discriminatory law that we had federal law that we had
[7:25]It was the only law that mandated somebody be fired because of who they are
[7:30]So we were there actual attorneys
[7:31]I worked on the government affairs side which meant that I worked on repealing don't ask don't tell for
[7:36]About two years and then say it on with the Pentagon for about a year
[7:38]Working on the implementation of the law. So actually going into effect
[7:42]From there Obama was going to be reelected. I thought okay
[7:45]I want to get back into this action
[7:47]So I ran the young Democrats of America for his reelection campaign and after that
[7:51]I went to go work for the largest progressive think tanks and a program progress where I ran campaigns and strategy for about six years
[7:58]And I loved it. I loved everything about my job
[8:01]I loved being in the work. I loved taking on hard tasks. I could outwork
[8:06]I mean one of the things that I would regularly say is that sometimes you can just outwork your opposition
[8:12]And that is the only way that I saw myself. It was my whole identity was
[8:17]Outworking the competition being the hardest work in the room like staying dedicated never turning off
[8:22]And that did not go and that did not that was not a lifestyle for having three kids in three years
[8:29]It turns out
[8:30]Turns out you can't do both of those things at the same time
[8:34]You can't do much with three kids in three years
[8:38]Let alone that but anyway
[8:40]So my first I had during the 2016 presidential campaign which
[8:46]Honestly the biggest hardship in that for me was that I couldn't work on the campaign
[8:50]Because people don't work on campaigns pregnant people don't work on campaign to babies
[8:53]So even just letting go of that was kind of a hit to my sense of self
[8:57]And what I felt like was my sense of purpose
[9:00]I've been an on-air political commentator on politics for about 10 years
[9:03]So I was on CNN the day that I went into labor with my son
[9:07]And I was one of my friends was doing her first TV hit later that day
[9:12]And she was like texting me for tips on it
[9:14]And I was like, hey, I was like, hey, I'm getting an epidural
[9:18]Are you gonna be a baby right now?
[9:19]Yes, I'm having a baby right now
[9:21]But you know, like sending
[9:23]Because like that's what I'm comfortable with like having a baby not comfortable
[9:28]Going on Fox News to debate presidential politics totally comfortable
[9:32]That is what I was giving my friends tips on
[9:34]So the second one so my job changed immediately during the Trump administration because
[9:39]Just the timing and sense of my job changed
[9:42]It meant that the pace picked up a lot because nobody knew what Trump was what policies he was going to announce and when
[9:49]And he announced a lot of new policies Friday nights and Sundays
[9:53]And for any mom that means no child's care
[9:56]So suddenly I was pregnant with a baby
[10:00]baby, oh, I are pregnant immediately after the first one.
[10:03]So I was pregnant with a baby and running all of these
[10:07]like new strategy calls that we had no preparation for
[10:10]with no child's care.
[10:11]So when I went on maternity leave with the second one,
[10:14]I thought, I cannot go back into this job,
[10:17]like it kills me.
[10:21]It was the only sense of self that I had.
[10:22]It was the only way I knew myself,
[10:24]but I knew that I was failing in my job
[10:27]and I was failing with my kids.
[10:29]So I didn't go back after my second maternity leave,
[10:33]which also I hated to play into that stereotype
[10:35]of someone who doesn't come back after maternity leave.
[10:38]And I started doing some political consulting
[10:41]and I felt like the thing that was really firing me up
[10:44]at that moment was, was bringing
[10:46]relatable conversational, accessible information
[10:50]about policy to people.
[10:53]Like in Washington, I know that sounds kind of obvious,
[10:55]but like in Washington, that's not value.
[10:58]Like could knowledge and that,
[11:02]but that's the currency of Washington.
[11:03]So there's not a lot of value place
[11:05]on making things really accessible to people.
[11:07]So I started a podcast called Your Political Playlist
[11:10]where I brought on all female experts
[11:13]to really break down what issues were happening
[11:15]in the world and happening in the presidential primary
[11:18]at that point, the 2020 primary.
[11:21]And the reason I brought on all female experts
[11:23]is because that too I would go to.
[11:24]That's like, I literally called the people
[11:26]that I called before I go on TV.
[11:28]And I opened up the conversations with them.
[11:31]And I felt like I saw a pattern in policy
[11:35]where women would do all the work
[11:36]and then not put their names out
[11:39]for the things that end up getting them
[11:41]like kind of street cred to be considered
[11:42]like a quote expert on something.
[11:45]So if I could give them expert podcast hits
[11:49]to then build their expertise
[11:51]and build that piece of their portfolio,
[11:53]that's 100% what I wanted to be doing.
[11:55]So Your Political Playlist ran for about two and a half years.
[11:57]And then I have a third meeting.
[11:59]So I've now had three babies
[12:00]and it will have third and a global pandemic
[12:02]in three to half years.
[12:04]And it just, you know, I think the way that a lot of us
[12:08]I could give you some tips.
[12:09]I mean, there are ways you don't,
[12:10]I mean, if you need some advice on spacing out the next one,
[12:15]I think there are things you could do.
[12:16]But you know, you, you know,
[12:18]well, anyone who will listen.
[12:20]She'll say, oh, my daughter's a lawyer
[12:22]and she can't figure out how to not get pregnant.
[12:25]He'll tell anyone.
[12:26]She's like, she's so smart.
[12:29]But you know, it just any sense of trying to have
[12:33]those same kind of professional benchmarks
[12:36]that I was still trying to be active with,
[12:38]even doing it as a consultant
[12:40]and as a political podcast host, I still couldn't do it.
[12:43]I still couldn't make it with a third baby
[12:45]and having two toddlers at home
[12:47]and they were home all the time as we all know.
[12:49]And you know, like I just didn't have the same support.
[12:51]So I still couldn't do it.
[12:52]So I started thinking about,
[12:54]where am I gonna get stories of inspiration?
[12:56]Like I need some stories of inspiration here.
[12:58]And I felt like my friends needed them too.
[13:00]So I started seeking out stories of women
[13:03]who had gone through something very personal,
[13:05]like not a professional change, like a personal change.
[13:09]And it changed their opportunities
[13:10]and it changed their perspective.
[13:12]And then they found a different kind of professional success
[13:15]after that.
[13:16]But like they couldn't have done it
[13:18]if they hadn't gone through first the career,
[13:20]then the personal change, then the change in perspective.
[13:23]So like I wanted, like I needed those stories.
[13:26]I still need those stories.
[13:28]This is my story, by the way.
[13:29]We can talk about that another time.
[13:31]But yes, it's exactly like we all need it.
[13:34]And like we need the stories of inspiration
[13:36]and you know, the amount that you have done
[13:39]to be open about that provides a pathway
[13:43]and provides inspiration for so many women,
[13:48]myself included.
[13:50]So that's why I came to start this new podcast, She Pivots.
[13:53]It is literally just a show, I mean, just a show.
[13:56]It is the stories I need,
[13:58]where every single story is totally different.
[14:01]I felt like if I had a whole show of women
[14:03]who were in the same position as me,
[14:05]it would be really depressing of like women.
[14:07]So I remember articles, my kids killed my career.
[14:11]That's heartfelt.
[14:13]But you know, everybody's personal event
[14:15]is totally different.
[14:16]Everybody's story is totally different.
[14:18]Their career is totally different.
[14:19]This week we have a Navy officer who served in the Navy,
[14:22]went to the Naval Academy, came out as trans
[14:25]and that ended her Navy career.
[14:28]But then she became a trauma nurse.
[14:30]And then a lawyer after that,
[14:31]and now she's a hospital executive.
[14:33]Things she never could have done had she not come out
[14:37]and left the Navy, which was very difficult for her.
[14:40]But you know, so every story is so different
[14:43]because I really want everyone to see a pathway
[14:46]like, you know, the pandemic's been really hard
[14:49]for moms and moms and young kids.
[14:51]But it's been hard for everyone.
[14:53]Yeah, so I want everyone to be able to see themselves
[14:55]in some of these stories.
[14:57]That's amazing.
[14:58]So some of the issues, of course, is a Democrat
[15:01]and as a woman and all of that,
[15:02]that I read that you've been, you know,
[15:05]supporting, discussing, debating blah, blah, blah,
[15:07]one of which is paid leave for women.
[15:10]And you are, you know, it's interesting to hear me.
[15:13]hear you talk about how you personally,
[15:16]you couldn't even go back to your job of fighting
[15:18]for paid leave because you didn't have paid leave.
[15:21]It's like so meta, in a way.
[15:24]Paid leave, gun control, like with all of the stuff going on now.
[15:28]How are you feeling about like the fight for all of this?
[15:31]Do we have like, what is your take on everything,
[15:34]I guess, at this moment?
[15:35]And are you gonna go, do you see yourself
[15:38]going into politics as an actual,
[15:41]as a politician, on the politician side
[15:44]as opposed to the activism side?
[15:46]Well, I don't think I'm gonna run for office.
[15:48]If there's a question,
[15:49]like I've been, no, I feel like I've been close enough to it
[15:53]to know you.
[15:54]Look, I'm pro pivot.
[15:56]Like I want everyone to explore what works for them
[15:58]in their life at that moment.
[16:00]And I want other moms and other women to be running for office.
[16:04]I think I feel like I get the platform
[16:07]that I want to have now,
[16:09]and I'm very lucky in being able to do that.
[16:12]And until that changes,
[16:14]like this is a platform that I'm gonna use,
[16:15]whether it's podcasting or writing articles or organizing.
[16:19]I have in this past year trying to position myself
[16:24]in a parenting space.
[16:25]I've been pretty conscious of trying to do less political
[16:29]commentaries.
[16:30]I'm kind of over indexed there.
[16:32]Okay.
[16:34]And establish myself more in like a,
[16:37]you know, a parenting, non-political space.
[16:42]The last couple of weeks have been super tough to do that.
[16:44]You know, starting with the leaking
[16:46]of the inevitable Supreme Court decision
[16:48]is gonna overturn Roe v. Wade.
[16:50]You know, seeing the inquiries and shootings,
[16:53]you know, the fact that we haven't passed paid leave,
[16:55]that has been my last political client
[16:57]the last year has tried to pass nationally leave.
[16:59]You know, seeing these things,
[17:00]but I'm coming to it from a different perspective
[17:02]than I had before.
[17:03]Like my brain every time I saw like a news alert
[17:07]or crisis, like my brain would turn on
[17:09]into campaign manager mode.
[17:11]And I would say, and I would do an evaluation of the landscape,
[17:15]the assets, the legislative blocks that we might have.
[17:19]And to some degree, I do that now.
[17:21]I think I'll never be able to really turn that off.
[17:23]But also my instinct has always been to just throw myself
[17:29]into it, like physically throw myself into it,
[17:32]not sleep or organize, like just kind of never stop.
[17:35]And that is truly not an option now.
[17:37]I mean, you know, I picked my son up from school yesterday.
[17:39]I was in the middle of trying to finalize
[17:41]a number of things, including I'm organizing moms
[17:44]in my community right now to go visit our member of Congress.
[17:46]I picked my son up from school.
[17:48]The place we thought we were going was unexpectedly closed.
[17:50]He wanted to go to this other place.
[17:51]And I had no cell service for two hours.
[17:53]So, you know, like, and I wanted to allow space
[17:57]for that in my life.
[17:58]Yes.
[17:59]And the political worker in me would have said like,
[18:04]sorry, kid.
[18:05]We're going back home to where I have like my full, you know,
[18:08]plugged in, that's the opposite of why I fight.
[18:11]You know, like, why would we either call him or whatever?
[18:14]Yeah.
[18:16]We're gonna do the difference.
[18:17]But my son was having a great time at the place
[18:20]that he wanted to go to.
[18:21]And so that wins for me now.
[18:23]I can't help myself.
[18:24]Like, I'm still organizing moms.
[18:27]I drove to all of my members of Congress's district offices
[18:32]last week to try to speak to a staff member.
[18:35]And there was nobody, like I literally drove around
[18:36]the entire district for like three hours.
[18:38]And there was nobody working in any of his offices.
[18:40]My member of Congress is Lee Zaldin
[18:42]in case anyone's wondering.
[18:43]You should also be calling him to find out
[18:44]why there's nobody working in his offices
[18:46]because he is running for a governor of New York.
[18:49]So, you know, when she find out why his staff can't take
[18:52]our calls or listen to us.
[18:54]So it's the first time I've ever lived in a Republican district.
[18:56]So I have a Republican member of Congress for the first time.
[18:59]I plan on utilizing that.
[19:01]But as a constituent, like as a mom,
[19:04]as a member of the community, as an organizer,
[19:06]not necessarily as a campaign director.
[19:08]I mean, on the other hand, I did get on the phone with every town
[19:11]and they told me what they wanted us to do in the district.
[19:13]And I said, no, we're doing something else.
[19:15]So we can't totally shut it down.
[19:20]I get it.
[19:21]I get it.
[19:22]You're trying hard to keep yourself a little bit on the bench.
[19:25]But you know, you keep sneaking on to the field, basically.
[19:28]So what's going on here?
[19:31]But you know what, that two hours with your son,
[19:33]it's going to be one of the times you remember the most.
[19:35]And I feel like another call at home would have just...
[19:40]You never would have remembered that.
[19:41]He wouldn't have remembered that.
[19:43]I don't know.
[19:44]I feel like women need to hard-charging, amazing women,
[19:48]like you should know, that that is really a worthy thing.
[19:52]It's awesome.
[19:52]You did that.
[19:53]And it's important to take all those times and do everything else.
[19:58]But you know, everybody has their...
[20:00]I'm choices in life.
[20:01]Right.
[20:01]I mean, everybody has to figure out what works for them,
[20:03]but I'm also open now in a way that I wasn't before.
[20:06]Like I had a meeting yesterday morning
[20:09]where I had one failed potty training situation
[20:13]and another projectile vomiting situation.
[20:16]And so I'm a tedious and a third going to school
[20:19]where I forgot to pack them with an empty lunch box.
[20:22]And I had a meeting and I said, you know what?
[20:23]I'm really sorry.
[20:24]This meeting isn't going to work for me.
[20:25]Like my kids are sick.
[20:26]And we're just going to have to,
[20:28]like it was something that was not
[20:29]necessarily that time sensitive.
[20:31]Yep.
[20:32]You know, short looked a little bad on me
[20:34]to be canceling or moving a meeting.
[20:35]But I was open about why I was doing it.
[20:37]And I feel like we're not going to culturally change
[20:39]unless we're open about that.
[20:40]Totally.
[20:41]I have someone on my team now who I know has, you know,
[20:44]two kids at home with COVID and she was trying to email
[20:46]and I just finally texted her.
[20:47]I was like, put on your auto reply
[20:50]and just forward your emails.
[20:52]Let someone else like, don't even try this.
[20:54]Like, because every time I told you she's like,
[20:56]well, they're watching me, no, just it's okay.
[20:58]It's this is not rocket science here.
[21:02]Like go take care of your kids who are sick.
[21:03]It's all right.
[21:04]It's all going to be okay.
[21:05]Will you setting that example as a boss
[21:07]will then set, it'll set the tone
[21:09]and it'll set the tone for them
[21:11]and it'll set the tone for the next place they go work?
[21:13]Yeah, I hope so.
[21:14]I mean, you know, as I like do my calls
[21:17]from the orthodontis office seriously.
[21:18]So it doesn't always work out perfectly.
[21:20]But you know, we all have to try and make it work
[21:22]sort of an impossible situation
[21:23]that we all have to wait our way through.
[21:26]And you know, that's kind of it.
[21:28]I do have a question about you're saying organizing moms
[21:31]and all of this stuff.
[21:32]And this is more on a personal note,
[21:34]but I have been like everybody, you know,
[21:36]just horrified by this latest gun,
[21:39]this latest school shooting raw elementary
[21:41]and the instant buffalo and then like every day.
[21:44]Like all of this stuff.
[21:45]And I naively was sort of like,
[21:47]is there something new we could try?
[21:49]Like I know there are these things in place.
[21:51]I know we are calling Congress or, you know,
[21:54]we are sending letters out.
[21:55]I feel like all the stuff, you know, like do this.
[21:57]I do it.
[21:58]Donate here, I donate.
[21:59]But like, is there anything else?
[22:03]Like, is there something we haven't thought of?
[22:04]Is there something we haven't tried?
[22:06]Could we go at this problem a different way?
[22:09]Is it through the mental health of the shooters
[22:12]versus the controlling of the implements of violence?
[22:14]Like, is it everything?
[22:16]Is it?
[22:17]So I don't know.
[22:18]My mind has been spinning in the last couple of weeks.
[22:20]Like, you know, totally in support
[22:22]of all of the organizations already fighting the good fight.
[22:25]And I'm behind them and we'll do whatever.
[22:27]But is there, is there anything else?
[22:29]And I don't know if you have also been sort of
[22:31]stewing on this, but, and maybe there is no answer.
[22:33]Maybe it's just like silly to waste time,
[22:35]but I always just like just try to look it a little differently
[22:40]and just see like, is there another way into this
[22:42]that will make a difference?
[22:43]Do you have any?
[22:44]Yeah, I think we're all spinning.
[22:46]Like it's hard to think through trauma
[22:48]and we've been through two consistent years of trauma
[22:50]to begin with.
[22:51]So I think it's totally fair to be spinning.
[22:53]I think the thing that I do know is gun policy.
[22:56]And so, you know, less so in other areas,
[22:59]but I'm happy to give insights into where that stands
[23:01]right now.
[23:02]We are at a, the reason that we are at a kind of a deadlock
[23:06]in passing what feels like really kind of,
[23:08]I worked on the last background checks bill
[23:10]that was in the Senate.
[23:11]We managed to meet background checks bill in 2013
[23:13]that came up before after the new town shooting.
[23:15]And the reason we kind of maintain in this deadlock
[23:17]is because the other is that people that are pro-gun,
[23:22]it feels ingrained.
[23:23]It's not just cultural, but it's ingrained in their identity.
[23:26]And so they are extremely active and vocal about it.
[23:28]Like, even the naming how much money politicians take
[23:32]from the NRA is actually not a very good indicator
[23:35]of who, like, of what is motivating them,
[23:38]because it's actually not the money.
[23:39]It's the intensity.
[23:41]It's that the people who live in their district
[23:43]truly vote and organize because they feel it
[23:47]as an attack on their identity.
[23:49]So there needs to be equal and opposite pressure
[23:52]on the other side.
[23:54]It needs to be an issue where, you know,
[23:57]this does end up breaking down Democrat,
[23:59]Republican for the most part.
[24:00]It needs, you know, it needs to be an issue
[24:02]where Democrats feel like they have so much pressure
[24:05]coming from their constituents,
[24:06]the people they represent that they have to push the issue.
[24:10]And if they live in a moderate district,
[24:11]they're always going, which at this point,
[24:13]the way Jerry Mandarin redistricting is gone,
[24:17]it is mostly suburbs is where the swing districts are.
[24:21]It's New York, New Jersey, Texas,
[24:23]Florida, California, Ohio,
[24:25]or like the big swing districts and suburbs.
[24:28]And those are House versus Senate.
[24:31]And they need to be able to,
[24:33]and this is true of senators from those states as well,
[24:35]but they need to feel like they're in the middle.
[24:38]So they need to feel like if there's an issue
[24:39]that they're gonna go really left on,
[24:42]they need to have something from the left
[24:44]that they're not satisfying.
[24:46]And often that will be good
[24:47]with the thing that drops for them.
[24:49]So they need people like there's so much pressure
[24:51]from their constituents.
[24:52]They can't drop guns.
[24:54]A number of background checks and other laws
[24:56]like closing the Charleston loophole
[24:57]have already been passed through the House.
[24:59]That legislation is sitting there with bicameral system.
[25:01]Now that Biden will sign it,
[25:03]now the Senate needs to pass something.
[25:05]Chris Murphy from the Senator from Connecticut
[25:07]is working on bipartisan legislation right now
[25:10]with Republicans that Chuck Schumer is the majority leader,
[25:13]will bring to the floor.
[25:15]But he feels like it satisfies him.
[25:16]So it feels like there is something potentially moving.
[25:19]But I would say the way,
[25:21]you know, you're saying you call you email all of it,
[25:24]the way those work is that it's either a message machine
[25:27]or an intern that calls when you pick,
[25:29]when you call a congressional office.
[25:30]You know this from calling.
[25:31]They just, all they do is they take down
[25:34]what issue you're calling on and if you're four against
[25:37]and they tally them up at the end of the day
[25:39]and they show them to their boss.
[25:41]That is how it works.
[25:41]So you do not need to have a lot of speech.
[25:43]You can just say what issue you're calling on
[25:45]and if you're four against
[25:46]and you can basically do it every day.
[25:48]But they do tally them and they look to see
[25:50]if they're getting high intensity on issues.
[25:53]You know, if they feel like there's something they don't want
[25:55]to have to go in on, but they're getting so much
[25:57]so many calls and they feel like they have to.
[25:59]And I would say it is a general rule.
[26:01]However, whatever effort, like how much effort it takes you
[26:06]to put something into their office,
[26:08]the more they have to respond to it.
[26:10]So if it's like a foreign email,
[26:12]they'll probably just filter them out to be honest.
[26:15]If it's a call, they will have to pay attention.
[26:18]If it's a handwritten letter,
[26:19]it actually gets siphoned off into an anthrax sorting facility
[26:23]and will take an additional three weeks to get to their office.
[26:26]Oh my gosh.
[26:27]So if it seems, even though it seems like a handwritten
[26:29]letter is a great idea,
[26:30]it actually won't arrive in a timely way.
[26:33]Interesting.
[26:33]And the same is true of social media
[26:35]that they tally up what issues they're getting tagged in
[26:38]and for and against at the end of every day.
[26:40]So if they're getting a big blast on something,
[26:42]their digital director will have to report it up
[26:44]to their chief of staff every day.
[26:45]So I would say as a general rule,
[26:47]the more the more contacts and the more effort
[26:50]it puts in, the more of an impacted makes.
[26:52]Okay, interesting.
[26:53]Thank you.
[26:54]Excellent insight.
[26:57]I mean, the way we're organizing now is we've both
[26:59]requested a meeting with our member of Congress
[27:01]as concerned moms and also we're organizing moms
[27:04]that we're gonna have like an organizing evening together
[27:06]or we're gonna make cards,
[27:08]like big construction paper cards
[27:10]and we're gonna drop them off as it off as is office
[27:13]and we're gonna ask them to respond to us.
[27:15]Amazing.
[27:15]Okay.
[27:16]Well, if let's say there are people who wanna join
[27:19]your particular fight in that neighborhood,
[27:21]do you have like a sign up or something?
[27:23]That is a great question.
[27:24]We don't have it quite yet.
[27:25]We're kind of waiting to see how it plays out
[27:26]with the meeting request,
[27:27]but you can send us a DM at sheet pivots the podcast.
[27:30]Okay.
[27:31]We'll get you in.
[27:32]Okay.
[27:32]All right, sheet pivots the podcast.
[27:34]Awesome.
[27:35]Okay. Well, you are like so bright and inspirational.
[27:39]I love hearing your passion for everything
[27:42]and I think it's super smart
[27:44]that you know your limits right this very second
[27:48]and yet are still in the game, you know,
[27:50]not to be, you know, condescending.
[27:52]My kids are only a couple years older,
[27:54]but I do feel like my youngest now is seven
[27:56]and my oldest is almost 15
[27:58]and there will be more bandwidth very soon.
[28:01]So this period does, this period does pass.
[28:05]It does not have the haze.
[28:07]Very inspirational.
[28:08]I need fat.
[28:10]Oh my goodness.
[28:12]I'm like, how am I supposed to enjoy every minute
[28:14]when every minute last like 16 years?
[28:16]Yeah.
[28:18]Anyway, but yeah, and then it's gone.
[28:20]So well, it was great chatting with you.
[28:22]Thank you so much for coming on
[28:23]and I hope to stay in touch.
[28:25]Yes, thank you so much for having me.
[28:27]It's great to be on with you.
[28:29]Thanks for listening to this episode of Moms.
[28:31]Don't have time to read books.
[28:33]Don't forget to follow me on Instagram,
[28:35]at Zibi Owens and at Moms.
[28:37]Don't have time to read books.
[28:38]Also sign up for my newsletter at Zibi Owens.com
[28:41]and sign up for my virtual book club
[28:42]and meet lots of authors on Zoom every other week.
[28:45]Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan,
[28:46]at Textures Sound for the Sound Editing.
[28:49]And thank you to Morning Moon Productions
[28:51]for providing this fantastic intro and outro music.